After spending 23 years in prison for crimes she didn’t commit, Tyra Patterson got a bit of ‘artistic justice.’ The Dayton, Ohio native served as the commencement speaker for the Art Academy of Cincinnati, which surprised her with an honorary Bachelor of Fine Arts.
It was a moment she didn’t see coming, but greatly appreciated, telling WLWT5 art is one of the ways she coped during her wrongful imprisonment.
“I’m very passionate about intersecting social justice and art because it has a way to speak to the world,” Patterson said.
Patterson was also awarded the 2020 Creative Perseverance Award by the academy. She also shared how receiving the degree and award impacted her.
“You know if I can do it, anyone can… It gave me a lot of hope,” a tearful Patterson said. “It felt so liberating to be so accepted.”
Originally charged for the robbery and murder of 15-year-old Michelle Lai, which occurred in 1994, Patterson always maintained her innocence. However, she wasn’t granted clemency until the victim’s sister – Holly Lai Holbrook – came forward and corroborated Patterson’s version of events.
She said detectives fed her information to recite on the witness stand and she never felt comfortable about Patterson’s conviction.
“I buried this stuff years ago. I knew I was wrong. But I didn’t want to be the black sheep of the family, the odd one out, and I didn’t want to have to relive that night, I just wanted it buried,” Holbrook said.
She was released in 2017 on Christmas day. While incarcerated, Patterson devoted her time to educating herself since dropped out of school at age 11 due to her family experiencing “chronic homelessness.”
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Patterson obtained her GED, a steam engineer’s license, became a tutor and completed a paralegal program, her bio on the Ohio Justice & Policy Center (OJPC) website states.
It’s where she now works as a community outreach strategy specialist – which is a full circle moment for her because OJPC helped her win her freedom.
“A lot of people say, ‘Tyra, you lived more than half your life in prison. Why don’t you move on and do something else with your time?’ And I say, ‘I can’t. Somebody did it for me, and I have to do it for others,'” Patterson said.
Though Patterson has overcome immense obstacles and Netflix is planning to release a documentary about her life in 2021, she still wasn’t sure she was equipped to be a commencement speaker at a college.
When the moment arrived, Patterson rose to the occasion and gave the graduates sage advice. “Be kind, because kindness will open doors that education won’t,” Patterson said.
Her bright smile and continued success denote she’s likely speaking from experience.
